Blog Tour | The Noh Family by Grace K. Shim | Review

THE NOH FAMILY

Author: Grace K. Shim

Pages: 384

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publishing Date: May 3rd, 2022

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis:

A sparkling K-drama inspired debut teen novel by Grace Shim, THE NOH FAMILY introduces irrepressibly charming teen Chloe Kang, who is reunited with her deceased father’s estranged family via a DNA test, and is soon whisked off to Seoul to join them…

When her friends gift her a 23-and-Me test as a gag, high school senior Chloe Kang doesn’t think much of trying it out. She doesn’t believe anything will come of it–she’s an only child, her mother is an orphan, and her father died in Seoul before she was even born, and before her mother moved to Oklahoma. It’s been just Chloe and her mom her whole life. But the DNA test reveals something Chloe never expected–she’s got a whole extended family from her father’s side half a world away in Korea. Her father’s family are owners of a famous high-end department store, and are among the richest families in Seoul. When they learn she exists, they are excited to meet her. Her mother has huge reservations, she hasn’t had a great relationship with her husband’s family, which is why she’s kept them secret, but she can’t stop Chloe from travelling to Seoul to spend two weeks getting to know the Noh family.

Chloe is whisked into the lap of luxury, but something feels wrong. Chloe wants to shake it off–she’s busy enjoying the delights of Seoul with new friend Miso Dan, the daughter of one of her mother’s grade school friends. And as an aspiring fashion designer, she’s loving the couture clothes her department store owning family gives her access to. But soon Chloe will discover the reason why her mother never told her about her dad’s family, and why the Nohs wanted her in Seoul in the first place. Could joining the Noh family be worse than having no family at all?

Author Info:

Grace grew up in Tulsa Oklahoma as one of two Korean-Americans at her high school (her sister was the other one). Today, Grace writes books with Korean-American protagonists that she wished she had read about as a teen.

When she’s not plotting (the writing kind, not the world domination kind), you can find her wearing a Korean sheet mask, baking French macarons, and unintentionally killing house plants & succulents. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and three kids.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Thank you to NetGalley and TBR and Beyond Tours for providing me with an ARC to review. You can check out the other posts on the tour here.

Review:

I don’t why but recently I am really in the mood for reading books with Korean rep, and this was a simple, delightful read, perfect to satisfy my mood!

Plot:
We follow Chloe who got in touch with a cousin of hers, who, she had no idea existed. She visits her new found family in South Korea, but she is surprised to see they’re rich! She tackles a lot of problems throughout the novel, dealing with family, loss of close relatives and friendship.
I enjoyed this plot, honestly! As countlessly mentioned in the novel, it’s a very typical plot, but I enjoyed the way it was presented. I loved the trip to Korea from the comfort of my bed, it was so well written, and inculcated in the plot so easily!
My only problem with the plot was that it was too long. Like I felt that the book could’ve been wrapped up in 300 pages, but maybe that’s just me.

Characters:
The characters were above average but not like perfect. They could’ve been written slightly well, but overall, if I had two options to complain or to not complain- I’d pick not complain. There just wasn’t any one character which made me go, oh man, I love this character!

Writing Style:
literally zero complaints here.

Would recommend for sure, since it has tons of K-drama references (not that I got any).

Have you read this book? Do you have it on your TBR? Do you have any K-drama suggestions for me? Let me know in the comments!